The Mechanics of Death

     Greetings, joy and happiness to everyone!  This article discusses the mechanics 
involved when a warrior dies in combat.  It will give the reader a better knowledge of 
how a warrior actually gets killed in combat.
     Here is how a warrior dies... The Facts) ...in fact, get out a dead warrior's 
last fight so you can follow me.  To start the process of death, a warrior must first 
fail to make a death roll.  Let's say the death roll is 20 or less out of 100 to fail 
that roll for this example.
     There are 2 ways a warrior can be forced to make that Death Roll.

1. The vitals roll.
2. The second is when you run out of hit points, which is called the "infirmary roll."

     The vitals roll -- every time a warrior gets hit in a vital area you make a 
vitals roll.  Lets say that you fail on a 1-15% out of 100.  If you get hit in the 
head, chest, or abdomen, you will roll the vitals percent.  If you roll 15 or less you 
must make the death roll to determine if the warrior was killed.  Now look at the 
fight with your dead warrior on it...look for the death intent statement, it will say 
something like, "Trying to make this into a death match, or seeks death of his 
opponent, etc. etc." (there are a lot of them) that is telling you that your warrior 
was forced to make a death roll.
     Now comes the scary part: if you fail the death roll your warrior dies.  But the 
program does not kill you immediately because you still have hit points left.  So what 
happens next is that you will get normal attacks and damages that hit your character 
automatically in the vitals until yours hit points run out.  Then it will say your 
warrior is dead.  Remember that it will be normal hits to the vitals, not crits or 
extra damage remarks.  If your warrior dodges, crit attacks , parries,  has extra 
damage remarks or anything else EXCEPT a normal hit to the vitals, the sentence 
following right after the death intent statement comes up, then he made his death roll 
successfully and the fight continues.  You can have many death intent statements come 
up in one fight, depending on the number of times you hit a vital. You won't get one 
every time, only when you fail the vitals roll.  And your warrior will have to roll 
the death roll every time you fail the vitals roll to see if he is killed or not.  
EXAMPLE:

INFERNO leaps to his left!
INFERNO's scimitar lunges with awesome cutting power!
NULN takes an upper body hit!
NULN is badly hurt!
NULN is becoming FRANTIC!!!!
INFERNO's scimitar lunges with awesome cutting power!
NULN is struck on the left rib cage!
What a devastating attack!!
NULN is dangerously stunned!
INFERNO is trying to make this a death match----(Death Intent)
INFERNO slashes an attack with his scimitar---(Normal Attack)
NULN is struck on the side of the HEAD!---(Vital Hit)
INFERNO slashes with his scimitar
NULN is wounded in the upper chest.
INFERNO slashes with his scimitar
NULN is hit in the forehead!
NULN curses the gods in frustration!
NULN falls LIFELESS to the ground!
INFERNO has won the duel!
INFERNO laughs and says, "What a loser!"

     As you see, if you fail the vitals roll, and then fail the death roll, you will 
get normal attacks to the vital areas until all of your warrior's hit points are gone.  
All of your dead warriors that have died from DEATH INTENT statements will have those 
three things... death intent statement, then normal attack, then hits to the vitals 
until all hit points are gone.  Then you will get some sort of, "falls over dead 
statement."  In the past, if you failed the death intent statement roll, the program 
would just skip all the stuff that was in between the death intent statement and the 
falls over dead statement.   It would say something like this:

INFERNO seeks the death of his opponent
NULN falls to the ground lifeless
INFERNO has won the duel.

But they changed it to make death more dramatic.

     The second way your warrior is forced to make a death roll is if your warrior 
runs out of hit points during or after the fight has ended.  This roll is called the 
infirmary roll and can happen in or out of combat, and does not matter where your 
warrior gets hit.  If your warrior has taken many hits, that reduces his hit point 
total below the preset percentage... lets say it 5% of your total hit points... then 
he will make an infirmary roll.  If you fail the infirmary roll, you then make the 
death roll to determine if your warrior has died.  In combat, you will read that you 
died from serious wounds or something to that effect.  After a fight is over, the 
program checks to see if your warrior has fallen below that preset percentage of hit 
points, if you have, you will make an infirmary roll.  If you fail the infirmary roll, 
an infirmary statement will appear at the bottom of your fight letting you know if 
your warrior failed the death roll that comes after that.   Sometimes you can die in 
combat without a death intent statement that comes up during the battle .  This is a 
good example of an infirmary roll failure in combat from low hit points, triggering 
the death roll which actually is the roll that kills your warrior.  In some battles 
you can get hit several times in the vitals, have several death intent statements come 
up, make every roll successfully and still die from lack of hit points (i.e.: fail the 
infirmary roll).
     A simple way to think of this is the 2 ways are :  1. vitals roll, which deals 
with getting hit in the head, chest, or abs and dying when a death intent statement 
comes up.  Or  # 2.  infirmary roll, which deals with dying from lack of hit points, 
and does not use the death intent statement.  I'd say about 90% of all deaths are by 
death intent statement because of a failed vitals roll.  Only a small percentage die 
from the infirmary roll in or out of combat.
     Well, that's it.  These are facts, not theories.  You can check this out with all 
your dead warriors, and you will learn there are NO exceptions.   Those percentages I 
used up there are just made up, I have no way of knowing what they really are.
     Now I have formed theory regarding KD or kill desire.  I do not believe KD has 
anything to do with a warrior dying, but is rather a tool to determine your warrior's 
aggressiveness in combat.   In other words the timing of his blows, his shot 
selection, and other such things.  For example: The higher the KD the wilder he is 
with his shots, and easier to feint, dodge, parry and riposte.  Some styles like Abs 
(Aimed Blows) fight better with a 1 KD because they are very selective with their 
shots.  Most of the other offensive styles function well between 5-7 KD.  Any more 
than that is just a waste of endurance and has a negative effect on your warrior's 
performance in battle, in my opinion.
     Well that's it for now.  If you would like to chat sometime drop me a diplo at 
Jessie's Kids in DM 60 (yes, I've come out of retirement)  ;) May the axe fall in your 
favor!

Cheerio!
Sir Jessie Jest,
Lord of Puns, and Master of Laughter.